Reflektor
by Winterborne
Summary: Victoria sits in the dark, and contemplates what her actions almost lead to. Oneshot


Disclaimer: Life is Strange is the property of DontNod and Square-Enix, not me.

Author's note: Well I've had this idea since I finished Episode 2, and was meaning to get this down and done by the time Chaos Theory was out. So a week after the episode released is obviously right on schedule. I did include a couple rather small mentions of things in Ep 3, so enter at your own risk. Also I apologize in advance for all the inevitable mistakes you'll probably find.

REFLEKTOR:

Victoria Chase collapsed in her chair, the leather forming comfortably against her back, it had been a long day. The fact that she had finally seemed to have removed all traces of the paint from yesterday's incident was one of the few bright spots on this Tuesday. She sighed in exhaustion, but when her eyes closed she was assaulted with scenes from a few hours ago. She doubted rest would come easily tonight.

Slowly moving up, Victoria walked over to the window in her room gazing down at the common area of Blackwell Academy, where only a few hours ago students had gathered to watch Kate Marsh nearly throw herself off of the dorm's roof. Some how Max Caulfield, Blackwell's resident hipster, had managed to get on to the roof and convince the other girl to come down safely.

The more logical part of Victoria's brain wondered how Max had gotten from the back of Jefferson's classroom to the top of the building so quickly without being seen. Yes everyone was distracted looking up at the distressed Kate, but you'd think there would have been some witness to the apparent mad dash. There was only one way up afterall, and it involved going through every one. Perhaps Max had found another way yesterday, after the paint incident. The self-appointed Queen of Blackwell quickly glanced over at her phone, it had been pointed pretty upwards but maybe.

" _I am sorry. That's an awesome cashmere sweater… You have a great eye. Richard Avedon-esque."_ Max's words from yesterday reverberated through her skull, stopping her in her tracks from watching the video. The girl had given her kindness, when if their positions had been reversed Victoria would have given Max nothing but grief. Perhaps she deserved the benefit of the doubt just this once. It didn't really matter how Max had done it, only that she had. You could call it a miracle, if Victoria believed in such things anymore, or ever really had.

"Victoria hurled her phone against her bed in frustration, the device bouncing across the pillow-top a couple times before falling against the floor in frustration. "Okay Chase, pull it together now." The teen hissed at herself, she just needed a break from all this chaos. Victoria got up and walked over to her desk, logging on to her computer. There was an e-mail from Nathan. Given that the Prescott and Chase families walked in the same upper class circles, Victoria had known Nathan Prescott since they were fairly young. He had never been what some people might call a "Good Guy" but he had changed over the last year or so, becoming more erratic, edgy, some people didn't see it but Victoria did. It made her uncomfortable; if she was honest with herself. Still she opened the message darkly curious as to the Prescott scion's thoughts on recent events.

Of course it contained one of the names Victoria wanted to banish from her mind, if not reality, Max Caulfield. Somehow the idiotic girl had managed to get Nathan suspended from Blackwell. How she managed to have enough leverage on the drunk Principal Wells to get him to go against the Prescott family and their money was stunning. Victoria figured it probably had something to do with Kat… her video, but how that would trace back to Nathan was beyond her. She typed a quick response to the boy, her irritation at Max, him, the whole situation growing with each word the blonde typed. Hitting send, she ran a hand through her short hair. Leaving her email, Victoria decided to keep browsing.

She really should've known better. Of course the events at Blackwell would be all over the internet, between the snow and now this the sleepy little town probably had more action over the last two days than since it was founded. Irritated though she was, Victoria couldn't help but reading through some of the articles and comments. After sending another email, eventually she made her way to Facebook. The girl's feed was similarly filled with accounts and comments on the afternoon's happening. The website helpfully told her that a bunch of her friends had posted on Kate's wall. She should probably write something as well, if for appearences sake if nothing else. Victoria paused for several minutes holding chin in her palm as debated on what to say, she could send just a generic message but was that really right? Finally figuring on a simple, but disturbingly kind message, her fingers flew across the keyboard.

" _You're going to be sorry someday."_ Once again Victoria was assailed by voices from the past, this time that of Kate from the morning. The words had come true, though earlier than she may have thought. The girl's eyes haunted Victoria, like any of Diane Arbus' photos. Gritting her teeth Victoria looked down at her hands, the way the shadows played across them from the eclipse looked like the blood they would've been covered in had events played out slightly differently. Victoria's mind of a whirlwind of all the things she had said and done to Kate over the last few weeks, in away she had been up there, with Max and Kate on the roof, whispering her poison into the other blonde girl's ears. Though fate had decided that Max's words would be the necessary tonic.

Stomping angrily across her room, Victoria picked up her phone from where it lay as Jefferson's words wormed their way inside her head " _I could frame anyone of you in a dark corner, and capture you in a moment of desperation. Isn't that too easy? Too obvious?"_ She scrolled through the device before settling on videos. And for the second time in as many days Victoria deleted a file involving Max Caulfield from her phone.

Weighed down by the stress and guilt Victoria Maribeth Chase broke down sobbing. Hours or perhaps just minutes later, the heiress' dorm door creaked opened darkened by the shilouette of Nathan Prescott.

Fin.

AN: Well feels good to finally have this out of head and on paper, so to speak, though honestly I'm not totally happy with it. I hope you enjoyed it atleast. I have a few more LiS fic ideas that I hope to have out over the next several weeks.


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